Besides beautiful landscapes and a long history, Vietnam also has a diverse cuisine and culture. There are rituals and habits of the Vietnamese that arouse the curiosity and surprise of Westerners.
Here are 10 surprising habits for foreigners during their stay in Vietnam :
1. «The Carrier»
There are more than 60 million registered motorcycles in the country (5th in the world), which means that almost every adult owns their own motorcycle !
In Vietnam, motorcycles are everywhere, hence its nickname “the kingdom of motorcycles » !
The roads are very congested in Vietnam, because of the many types of vehicles that travel together on the same road. So the traffic is quite messy. The first thing tourists have to learn when they come to Vietnam is how to cross the street. For many foreigners, their journey in the city is also an adventure, so much so that even on many tourist forums expatriates and travelers exchange secrets on how to cross the street in Vietnam.
An experiment: approach a local and cross the street with him or her, or join other pedestrians to form a group. A group of people makes it easier for locals to see you. If no one is around you, forcing you to cross the road alone, raise your hand to attract attention, drivers will see you from a distance and pass you by. There is no need to run, pedestrians should move slowly and steadily, so that drivers can react properly.
It is not uncommon to find bulky and overloaded vehicles on the streets and roads. In the countryside, a buffalo or an ox is carried on a motorcycle. And, a family of 4 people and sometimes even 5 people can move on a two-wheeler.
“Carrier”
For tourists, renting a motorcycle to explore the city can be an option, but the traffic is quite complicated, they must have a solid experience of driving motorcycles and heavy traffic. Otherwise, taking a cab, a motorcycle cab (xe om) or renting a car with a private driver is recommended.
2. Women cover their faces and wear long dresses to keep their skin white
Unlike Western women who want a tanned skin, Vietnamese women always protect themselves from the sun because, according to them (ditto for men), white skin is a standard of beauty. Everywhere in Vietnam, women are always seen wearing masks, gloves, scarves, long-sleeved shirts, long dresses to carefully protect the skin from the sun’s rays. This is why Vietnamese women do not swim in the sea before sunset. Bleaching baths, skin whitening cosmetics are also popular services in Vietnam. We can frequently see advertisements for these products on TV or social networks.
Like Ninjas in the street
3. Smoking tobacco by water pipe
Smoking tobacco by water pipe is a habit and a ritual in the daily life of the people of the North and Center. Western tourists will often see men smoking pipes in a roadside tea shop. Beware however, waterpipe smoking causes dizziness, lightheadedness, tremors, vomiting, and even the phenomenon of “tobacco intoxication” in new smokers, due to the high concentration of tobacco.
It is said that drinking a glass of green tea may help recovery from water pipe.
Water pipe smoking is a popular culture in some rural areas of Vietnam.
4. Eating all meals with chopsticks
Vietnamese people are used to eating all meals with chopsticks: from main meals to snacks, from ordinary meals to big parties and for all different dishes. While Westerners use different utensils for different dishes.
In Vietnam, most tourists are surprised and interested in this strange habit. For them, the use of chopsticks to all the dishes of Vietnamese people is a very artistic skill, many people try it but few of them do not succeed.
5. Wearing pajamas on the street
Many Vietnamese women think that there is nothing more comfortable than to go out in the street in pyjamas, but in the West, nobody wears this outfit in public places. It is a very normal thing for Vietnamese women, especially in rural areas. They wear pyjamas with countless patterns: shirts with colorful flower buttons, shorts or loose pants… when shopping or in the street.
At first, foreign tourists are surprised by this clothing, but once they understand this way of life, they envy a little the comfort and relaxation of Vietnamese women’s clothing.
6. Eating all kinds of things
Vietnamese cuisine is very diverse and rich, but there are many dishes that Westerners consider unusual and atypical such as dog meat, fresh coagulated blood soup, fertilized duck eggs, chicken feet, snake meat, mice or insects… and in some localities, bugs and snails are also eaten (like in France).
Many other dishes are appreciated by Vietnamese, such as fermented shrimp sauce, tofu, Vietnamese marinated vegetables and eggplant, fish sauce … and which may seem strange to foreign tourists
However, if you don’t want to eat it, don’t worry, there are still many other dishes to choose from because Vietnamese cuisine is very rich and diversified.
In the ranking of regions and countries with the best dishes, Vietnam won the 3rd place in the world with its nearly 500 dishes!
fertilized duck eggs and mouse meat
7. Take a nap
With cold winters in western countries, noon is the best time of the day. In Vietnam, with a warm climate, people don’t want to go out at noon and so they take a nap.
After lunch, the average nap time is one to two hours. Most stores, with the exception of restaurants, will take a lunch break. Office workers will sleep on their chairs or on the sedge mat on the floor. Vietnamese people normally wake up very early from 5 to 6 am and do a lot of work before the lunch break, so they need a nap to recover. There are also long buses with bunk beds so guests can sleep on a long trip. Many museums, tourist sites, administrative offices… are also closed from 12:00 to 13:30 for a lunch break.
8. Ask about salary and family circumstances
In Vietnam, you can ask a question about age, salary and marital status without it being impolite. For Vietnamese people, these are just greetings and ordinary topics about personal life that allow you to situate yourself socially and thus avoid blunders, Note that they do not expect the precise answer. For example, for the question “how much do you earn?”, the simple answer “enough for life” (and with a smile) is sufficient.
9. The majority of Vietnamese have the surname Nguyên
From your first encounters with the locals, you will hear the same family name over and over again. Don’t worry, you haven’t misheard because 38% of the population of Vietnam has the family name “Nguyên”, and 11% shares the name “Trân”.
According to historians, in the past under the feudal regime, when a new dynasty acceded to the throne, people were obliged to adopt the family name of this dynasty. Nguyên is the last Vietnamese imperial dynasty (the last monarch of the last Nguyên dynasty, the last emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, abdicated in 1945), so there was no change afterwards, that’s why so many Vietnamese bear the surname Nguyên.
Ho Chi Minh, national hero, also has this name (his birth name was Nguyen Sinh Cung).
10. Drink beer, iced coffee
Because of its rather warm climate, beer and iced coffee are among the most popular drinks in Vietnam, especially in the South. Even if the beer is already chilled, ice cubes are still added to the glass. Iced coffee with milk is only available in Vietnam.
People also add ice to tea, smoothies, fruit juices, soft drinks…
There will be many other differences waiting for you, such as: being able to bring food from one restaurant to another, processing raw food in the market, eating or doing a job in the street, burning paper offerings such as money, a house, a car, clothes and shoes, among other things, so that the deceased can use them in the realm of the dead…
These are the things that are normal in Vietnam but seem strange to foreigners, differences that make Vietnam attractive to visitors, changing them from their daily lives.
